Emu pictures and stories.... post them here

[yinepu]

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1894/mh-22.1

Feral emus in Texas!!! The bibliography has some valuably specific references – like a 40-hour stakeout of waterholes in Western Australia where emus drink.

Gee! References to feral emus in a half a dozen U.S. states!

Next:

‘You may not be aware that emu-farming was started in WA by a French company, without any public comment process, or adequate environmental or economic studies. Eggs from the WA sub-species were consequently sent to France, USA, South Africa, and any other country silly enough to let them in. At the last count I heard, there are 30,000 emus in France, and similar numbers in farms in other countries.’
[http://www.awpc.org.au/submissions/submission14.htm]

Sad Bit: there’s an ‘exotic hunting park’ in Texas, where you can shoot an emu. Mike is proudly pictured there with the emoo he deaded. 100% success rate guaranteed!! Well done, Mike!

I am going to have a lie-down.

Supreme Emu

Some of the 'feral" emus were escapees. others were "set free" when the bottom fell out of the emu market since ranchers were left with thousands of birds that no one wanted and they were now costing them to feed. In one instance that i can relate here it's a bit amusing how a small group "gained" their freedom... this is a true story, btw.

When emu sales dropped to zero one of the local ranchers decided to give away his yearlings. He had no buyers, no place to store hundreds of pounds of meat nor the manpower to process so many birds. He went to the local feed store (the one I currently go to) and offered them up "free to good home" kind of like a litter of unwanted kittens.
One of the other gentlemen there agreed to take as many as they could fit into his tiny livestock trailer.
So they finally met up at the rancher's property, "prospective owner" with trailer backed up to the yearling pen.. rancher in anticipation of getting rid of about 25 yearling eating machines.
Emus were caught and loaded.. the prospective owner was happy to have more critters wandering around his acreage... the rancher was glad to see the beasts go.
The trailer door was swung shut behind the last emu they could fit into the trailer.. i was told the head count ran about 25 yearling emus of both male and female birds. The rancher's wife swung the door to the trailer shut as the last bird was loaded as she had behind every bird.
The two men waved goodbye to each other and the prospective owner headed home towards Briggs, Texas... Now the trip between Florence, Texas (where the rancher lived) and Briggs is about eleven miles give or take a bit.. so the "new owner" didn't have far to go...
Within a few hours of the trade the rancher received a visit from the local police department.. it seems there had been a problem with the birds..... now.. lets back up a bit.. rancher was giving away emus.. new owner was gladly accepting about 25 birds.. the two men, the ranchers friends and employees were helping to catch and load the birds, and the rancher's wife was dutifully controlling the back or the trailer to keep any frightened emu from crashing back out again.. so what could possibly have gone wrong through the transaction?
Well.. it seems that somewhere between Florence and Brigs.. 25 happy emus were gaining their freedom.. every time they hit a bump.. slowed to a stop or started to speed back up again.. the trailer door (whom everyone thought had been latched by the rancher's wife) swung open.. now to a frightened confused emu who has no interest in travel by trailer.. this appeared to be a golden opportunity to venture out into the 'wilds" of Texas .. also keep in mind that cattle ranchers down here love barbed wire.. so emu can pretty much venture wherever they want to that isn't surrounded by 6 foot tall or higher field fence.
Upon reaching home the new "owner" found an unlatched empty trailer.. The police had told the rancher to go "get his **** birds".. to which he replied.. "They aren't mine.. i gave them to this guy.. " names were swapped and the police headed over to the "emu-less owner". Upon being informed of his duty to go catch now free ranging emu he loaded the trailer back up to his truck and headed out searching for the birds over the next few days... ... he finally spotted a couple of emu happily wandering around a cattle rancher's land.. went over to the house of the cattle rancher to let him know he was there to attempt to catch "his" emu... the cattle rancher refused to allow him on the property .. simply stating.. "those are my emu now..."
I have no idea how many birds the "emu-less owner" was able to recover.. my understanding was that it was 0... so somewhere in the neighborhood of 25ish emu gained freedom accidently that day and their offspring still wander the "wilds of Texas" somewhere in the neighborhood of Briggs and Florence Texas (or further) today.

I know of another population of feral emu down near Fred, Texas.. they are supposedly birds that were released when the ranchers couldn't afford to continue feeding them .. they are said to be found in "groups of 5 or more"..

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

‘no interest in travel by trailer’: thanks, Yinepu. That has made my day; and I still reckon it would be worth observing those birds if you could.

S.E.

 

[1muttsfan]

I had to look up drupes, never heard of such a thing before (aka Stone Fruit if you are curious)

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

This is Felicity Emu (front). She’s ‘tame.’ Not a pet. She’s a wild bird.

The bird behind is Noddy Big Ears Emu, her consort. He was completely wild just four or five weeks ago.
The ‘collar’ of his white neck-feathers is incomplete, which leaves a handsome ‘black diamond’ of feathers on the back of his neck. He’s a fine specimen.







Supreme Emu

Western Australia

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

FERAL bird... I had several "calls" as animal control in Indiana for feral Emu, talking 15-20 years ago. Never saw a single bird, but sure heard the complaints. I worked on call, and would race to find the bird spotted.. After a few months we realized where it was localized and found it was a farm that was bankrupt. Really sad for the birds. Shame that more won't educate themselves before buying.

 

[kbgh]

As usual. Great picture S.E.

What happened wasn't it Felic and Felicity last year.

Dam tramp had to go out and change consorts huh?

Looks like she found a great new mate. Any idea what happened to Felix?

K.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Morning, K.B.!

Felix was a while ago, and no, K.B., he didn’t ‘stick.’ We have learned that there’s a . . . well, a ‘courtship’ period between emu meets emu, and the fact of a bonded breeding-pair. Greedy went from Boy Emu to Speckles, then bounced Speckles (or vice versa, we don’t know).

We’d sure like to know more of Eric’s history, in that he seems to have been paired to Mrs Eric for a long time.

Felicity has been the real problem, in that she has had a number of ‘slide-on-by’ companions, but hasn’t bred.

Here’s a little politics: heaven forbid any male human be accused of trampiness! We assume that it’s natural and okay for male humans to ‘sow their wild oats.’ Well, emus are a gyno-centric species. The females are the pivot. They do the wild-oats sowing. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Find and listen to Michelle Shocked’s ‘Prodigal Daughter’!

What happened to Felix, K.B.? Well, this is a fact of the type of observations that we can make here:

often, a given bird is only identifiable by its proximity to another bird. It’s a weirdness I’ve been struggling with for years. Felix without Felicity is just some emu. Speckles without Greedy was a special case. I was able to identify him from his markings. Degree of tameness is an enduring clue. And there was once an orphan emu that grew up, and just faded into the crowd. I’ve written this before: how do you identify a large small emu?

Has anyone noticed that pet-bird owners never give details of distinguishing marks on their birds? Two reasons for this. Firstly, you need lots of emus in order to distinguish one from another. Secondly, if you only own one emu, and his name is Eustacious Emoo, well then, the emu that you see in the pen every morning is Eustacious.

With a really good camera, guys, you/we/I could create a gallery of photos of wild birds. Noddy, for example – a handsome bird – has a neat black diamond of feathers on the back of his neck. And I can now identify Audacious from his good-eye side ‘cause he carries his head cocked to one side.


Supreme Emu
S.E.

 

[yinepu]

Morning, K.B.!

Felix was a while ago, and no, K.B., he didn’t ‘stick.’ We have learned that there’s a . . . well, a ‘courtship’ period between emu meets emu, and the fact of a bonded breeding-pair. Greedy went from Boy Emu to Speckles, then bounced Speckles (or vice versa, we don’t know).

We’d sure like to know more of Eric’s history, in that he seems to have been paired to Mrs Eric for a long time.

Felicity has been the real problem, in that she has had a number of ‘slide-on-by’ companions, but hasn’t bred.

Here’s a little politics: heaven forbid any male human be accused of trampiness! We assume that it’s natural and okay for male humans to ‘sow their wild oats.’ Well, emus are a gyno-centric species. The females are the pivot. They do the wild-oats sowing. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Find and listen to Michelle Shocked’s ‘Prodigal Daughter’!

What happened to Felix, K.B.? Well, this is a fact of the type of observations that we can make here:

often, a given bird is only identifiable by its proximity to another bird. It’s a weirdness I’ve been struggling with for years. Felix without Felicity is just some emu. Speckles without Greedy was a special case. I was able to identify him from his markings. Degree of tameness is an enduring clue. And there was once an orphan emu that grew up, and just faded into the crowd. I’ve written this before: how do you identify a large small emu?

Has anyone noticed that pet-bird owners never give details of distinguishing marks on their birds? Two reasons for this. Firstly, you need lots of emus in order to distinguish one from another. Secondly, if you only own one emu, and his name is Eustacious Emoo, well then, the emu that you see in the pen every morning is Eustacious.

With a really good camera, guys, you/we/I could create a gallery of photos of wild birds. Noddy, for example – a handsome bird – has a neat black diamond of feathers on the back of his neck. And I can now identify Audacious from his good-eye side ‘cause he carries his head cocked to one side.


Supreme Emu
S.E.

mine are easy to tell apart (going with my three favorites since I have pics handy for them)

Paco has the "fluffy hairdo (not counting his scars)




Dorian has a bit different hairstyle plus more black in his back feathering.. and a bit more blue in his face ( i need to get a side pic of his face where you can see the blue coming in)




Rose has the "flat-top".. plus a longer face and more blue.. plus she has a slight "bend" in her beak that the others don't have

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Gee, Yinepu, this is great. I was gonna start a thread, but thought . . . nah.

I’ve already learned two things:

Different lengths of face? And bend in the beak?

And the blue on Rosie’s beak – the little blue bits that look like paint? Felicity has lots of that on her beak. Always has had, and I have never had the slightest idea what it is. It’s her best distinguishing mark.

Let’s make a thread.

S.E.

 

[kbgh]

All are handsome birds Yinepu.

Is Paco's beak colored or has he been playing in the dust?

Kerry